Cheney and CIA LeakFollow

Nervous? Sure. Nothing in the Post article that we didn't know 3 months ago though. And the USNews article is just plain ridiculous...


I'm still going with my theory that Plame outted herself when she appeared in that meeting with INR members (State Department) in which Wilson was briefed for his mission to Niger. If she appeared there as a CIA operative, but did not identify herself as a NOC, and did not ensure that everyone was cleared to know she was a NOC, then she broke cover. Everything that followed that break of cover cannot be considered a violation of national security, since those involved couldn't have known that her employment at the CIA was a matter of national security. Cheney's office "digging" into her identity is not evidence of a crime, since they would have been trying to figure out who arranged the meeting, and logically followed up on realizing that Plame was Wilson's wife. All of that can be derived from that one meeting without ever having access to a NOC list, or violating national security protocols.


Remember. In order for a crime to be commited, someone who knew that Valerie Plame was a NOC and who was codeword cleared for that infomation, had to pass on the fact that she worked for the CIA to someone who did *not* know she was a NOC and was not codeword cleared for that information. Every piece of evidence points to Valerie herself as being the one who did that. Everything after that point was people who had no knowledge of her status as a NOC simply passing on that she worked at the CIA. She was already "outted" at that point.

We'll see what the findings are though.

Valerie Plame broke her own cover?

Why am I surprised Gbaji said this? Been away too long.

Fact: Valerie Plame was employed by the CIA as a "non official cover" (NOC) operative. What that means is that her mere employment at CIA is a matter of national security.

Fact: On Feb 19th, 2002, Valerie Plame appeared in CIA headquarters at a briefing which included several members of the INR (State Department) and CIA. She handled introductions at the meeting, specifically introducing Wilson (presumably not identified as her husband at the time) to the INR and CIA members attending.

Questions:

1. Was Valerie Plame clearly acting as an employee of the CIA at that meeting? Did she have a CIA badge? What exactly was her role there? We know what she *did*. We know that she appeared to members of the State Department in a CIA building in some level of official capacity (she wasn't a guest obviously since she was handling part of the meeting).

2. Can we assume then that those members of the state department who attended that meeting believed her to be an employee of the CIA? Does this constitute "breaking cover"?

3. What name did she use at the meeting? Was she identified by name at all? If she was, one can assume that she didn't use her married name (if for no other reason then to counter even the possiblity of relation between herself and the person she was introducing).


That last one is extremely relevant, since it gives us a huge hint as to what really happened. Novaks article named her "Valerie Plame". Yet, by her own account, that's not a name she uses in any official way. Her checkbooks all have her married name. All her official papers ore in the name of Valerie Wilson. Loans, cars, accounts.. all under the last name of Wilson. This is *hugely* significant. If Novak was investigating "Wilson's Wife", he would have started with Wilson, moved to his wife, and then perhaps found out she worked at the CIA (that's the theory eveone's working on and assuming he was leaked that info). But if that was the case, why would he call her "Valerie Plame"? That makes no sense. He'd call her by her name, not go digging through old documents to uncover her maiden name and call her that.


The use of the name Valerie Plame *only* makes sense if Novaks investigation started with someone named Valerie Plame and ended at the realization that that was Wilson's wife. And the only reason I can see why he'd be starting with that name is if that was the name given as someone involved in Wilson's trip.

So the logical scenario is that she did identify herself at that meeting. She identified herself as a CIA employee named Valerie Plame. When Novak investigated the meeting, he was led to this woman and investigated her. Eventually, he figured out (how is somewhat irrelevant) that this mystery woman who set up the metting between Wilson and the CIA and the INR was none other then Wilson's wife!

That was the news that Novak was going after. That's what he dug up. The fact that she was a CIA employee was never something he would have needed to dig up or have leaked to him. He *started* with that knowledge, since he was specifically digging into the idenity of the CIA employee who set up the meeting.

Assuming that's even close to what happened (and it's the only explanation that makes 100% sense), then Plame did indeed out herself when she appeared in that meeting. She did what she was not supposed to do: Identified herself as a CIA employee to people who were not cleared to know she was a NOC. That's the end of it. There's your leak.


I'll admit that this is just a theory. But it's the only one that fits all the information we have.

Edited, Wed Oct 19 21:45:17 2005 by gbaji

once it looks like they cant deny involvement anymore, some lower level pigon will step up to take one for the team and admit they outed her, and the people responsible will never be touched.

just like the whole torture issue.

welcome to the moral majority, where taking responsibility for the people in power is a badge of pride.....and a good source of income.

some day, even you republicans will tire of the shame this addministraition is inflicting on our country. some day.

unfortunatly, by then, Bush will be long gone, doing breast-strokes in his money-bin.
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your probably right, but republicans are Americans too. there is a chance they will wake up before this band of thugs makes off with the bounty. there is a chance they will recognize the only way to restore our honor and integrity throughout the world is to hold this band of thugs responsible in a very public way.

there is a chance they might value their country more than their party affiliation.

slimm, but a slim chance is better than no chance.

OMG Bush is being insulted! Activate Anti-Clinton Shields NOW!!!!

Actually, from what I've heard from friends abroad, the general global reaction to the Clinton thing was vague amusement at how riled up the Americans got over it. I was in London for a week when the story broke and, while it made front page news each day, the coverage wasn't that of "Shame on America!"

Uh-huh.

AtomicFlea wrote:


/Agree.

Whoever leaked this information is a traitor and needs to be dealt with as such. Tall tree, short rope, no long speeches.

No opinion on the matter at hand (I'll wait 'til the jury's in, thanks), but I ran into this post a little while ago:

http://209.35.180.29/misc/plame.html

It's analysis done by two of the people who wrote the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, and it basically argues that no crime could have occured.

Interesting reading.

I'm not trying to defend anything. I totally agree that any and all parties involved in this breach should be dealt with publicly and harshly. What I'm sick of is all this shadowrelm-esque garbage about the continuing shame brought forth by the evil Republicans that wouldn't exist in any form if God's chosen politicians (Democrats) were in charge.

Clinton publicly admits to adultery and lying? Oh, that quirky guy!

Bush stumbles over a word in a speech? Damn that devil! Another horrifying shame on America!

Let me put it another way; I'm a Republican, and I think Bush is a fuc[b][/b]king moran. I don't however think that every problem this country has can be laid squarely at Bush's feet.

When in Rome...

I don't mind when politicians do it. When people like shadowrelm do it, and expect the rest of us to buy it hand-over-foot, is what I don't like.

As to the rest of your post....you're right.

Another post filled with 100% factual information. I think I'm falling